Fox ready to go for Cubs if needed at catcher

A spring training or two ago, Cubs farmhands Jake Fox and Casey McGehee were working on their catcher's mitts.

"You think we'll ever get to use those again?" one said to the other.

Welcome to full-circle theater.

Unable to find a catcher from outside the organization, the Cubs for now will go with Fox as their backup to Koyie Hill. The Cubs officially put No. 1 backstop Geovany Soto on the disabled list Saturday with a strained left oblique.

On Friday, they tried to put in a claim on Philadelphia Phillies backup Chris Coste, but the Houston Astros beat them to it.

"It's a very difficult position to find on the streets," general manager Jim Hendry said. "Right now we'll go with what we got and see what happens. We'll get to the break and re-evaluate. We've got some guys at Iowa who aren't bad. We'll just keep looking."

The Cubs have a day-night doubleheader today with the St, Louis Cardinals, and manager Lou Piniella said he isn't sure whether Hill will catch both games or if Fox will get a start.

Fox, who was drafted by the Cubs as a catcher in 2003, said once a catcher, always a catcher, even though he's now an infielder-outfielder.

"Oh, yeah," he said. "That's what I always tell people. Even though they ask me about change of position, I'm always a catcher. No matter what position I attack or what position I go to next, I will always have that catcher mentality of getting after it and being hard-nosed and that sort of thing."

Piniella added he did not think the Cubs would go with Hill-Fox as their tandem the full month Soto is on the DL.

" We're just buying some time until the break," Piniella said.

D-Lee OK: Derrek Lee proclaimed himself ready for today. Lee came out of Saturday's game with a recurrence of the neck spasms that have plagued him since 2007.

He suffered them in St. Louis on April 26, forcing him out that game and the next two. He missed five starts from May 6-10. An MRI on May 10 confirmed that the spasms are caused by a bulging disc.

"I'm good; I'll be in the lineup tomorrow," he said. "There's no story. I'm good. Just a tweak. I got out as a precaution."

In the fold again: Sam Fuld wasn't sure what to make from the summons he got Friday from Class AAA Iowa manager Bobby Dickerson. As it turned out, he needn't have worried. He was coming back to the Cubs.

"After my third at-bat, Dickerson gave me one of these (hand across throat)," Fuld said. "I thought maybe I didn't run it out or something. I assumed I ran the ball out, but I didn't know what was going on. He told me right away when I got back to the dugout.

"It's a great feeling. I didn't know what to expect, when or if I'd be back. It's definitely a little quicker than I expected. I'm loving it."

Fuld was up with the Cubs from June 29-July 5.

Double your pleasure: Carlos Zambrano will pitch against Kyle Lohse in Sunday's noon portion of the doubleheader. In the 7:05 p.m. game, Randy Wells will go for the Cubs against Adam Wainwright.